EMILY Chattle and Anna Hale are both 21, in their third year at the University of York, with a dissertation to finish and the counter demands of each playing Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz at the Grand Opera House, York.

They will be sharing out performances of the lead role in York company Pick Me Up Theatre's staging of the MGM musical from April 27 to May 5, joined by seasoned actor Ian Giles in his Pick Me Up debut as Professor Chester Marvel/The Wizard.

Emily and Anna are following in the sparkling red-shoe footsteps of Imelda Staunton, who played Dorothy in John Kane's premiere for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987.

"We've not been treading on each other's toes in rehearsals," says Anna. "Though we had a rehearsal last Sunday where it was almost like The Shinning, standing hand in hand saying our lines!"

Largely rehearsing separately, they have developed "very different" Dorothys. "But we're good friends – we've done shows together before – so we've shared ideas," says the taller Anna. "We've met up outside rehearsals to talk about things," says Emily. "It's also been nice to think about it individually, doing it differently," adds Anna.

York Press:

Emily Chattle with Dorothy's red shoes in Pick Me Up Theatre's The Wizard Of Oz. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

"It's been good for the other actors too," says Ian. "They've kept us on our toes, with us working in different ways with each of them."

The Wizard Of Oz was the first musical Emily saw. "It's my nana's favourite musical and I remember watching the film in her living room and from then on I always wanted to be Dorothy, going into a world like that but hiding behind the sofa when the witches came on," says the university student from Sheffield.

A love of fantasy must have stayed with her because Emily's dissertation for her English Literature degree is on the subject of unicorns in medieval literature. "And because I've picked something interesting, I know it'll get done in time when I'm also doing this show!" she says.

Anna, meanwhile, is hard at work on her Linguistics dissertation on the effect that singing has on vowel shape by comparison with talking, en route to finishing her degree before moving back home to Oxfordshire and taking part in the National Youth Music Theatre's new summer musical, Adam Johnson and Henry Roadnight's Super Hero.

Emily has auditioned for the musical theatre MA course at the Royal Academy of Music and will spend the summer rehearsing and performing Fizz Margereson's Edinburgh Fringe show Flattered, an ensemble verbatim piece about day-to-day sexual harassment.

York Press:

"Oz is my favourite fantasy world," says Anna Hale, looking forward to starring in The Wizard Of Oz. Picture: Matthew Kitchen 

Before all that, the Yellow Brick Road beckons. "Oz is my favourite fantasy world. Not only in The Wizard Of Oz, but The Wiz and Wicked too. It's so focused on colour; it's so vibrant," says Anna. "I first did a production of The Wizard Of Oz in my last year at school [in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire] and though I didn't get cast as Dorothy, I did play Glinda and Aunt Em , which I greatly enjoyed."

Rehearsals have been a joy. "My favourite moment was when Bertie, the dog [playing Toto], fell asleep in my arms as I sang Over The Rainbow," says Anna. "Playing Dorothy, she may be little, but she's got fire in her belly." Emily concurs: "My favourite moment is when Dorothy stands up for herself and for Toto."

York Press:

Ian Giles, making his Pick Me Up Theatre debut

Hot on the heels of appearing in York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre's dystopian drama Legacy last week, Ian Giles is looking forward to his Pick Me Up debut. "I've seen a number of their productions, mainly because Nick Lewis and George Stagnell were in them, and I was mightily impressed, so I contacted Robert [director Robert Readman], and as I don't normally do musicals, he came back suggesting I should play the Professor/Wizard," he says.

"The Wizard is a charlatan, a humbug, an imposter, but the key to playing him is him saying 'I'm not a bad man; I'm a very good man; I'm just a very bad wizard."

Ian, incidentally, once directed The Wizard Of Oz. "It was Alfred Bradley's children's version – without songs – at the Sheffield Crucible at Christmas in 1974, when Pam Ferris played the Wicked Witch of the West, and I'd never seen the film before doing that show," he recalls.

Now a wizard time awaits him in performances at 7.30pm on April 27; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, April 28; 7pm, April 30, May 1 and 2; 7.30pm, May 3 and 4, and 2.30pm and 7.30pm, May 5. Tickets are on sale on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york